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WEST WINDSOR, N.J. ? Georgetown graduate Conal Groom won the third and decisive final of the men's single sculls at the U.S. Olympic Rowing Trials Sunday morning on Lake Mercer near Princeton, N.J.

Groom raced neck-and-neck with Adam Holland of the Harvard University Boat Club the entire way down the 2,000-meter course until Groom pulled out the victory in the final few strokes. At the 1,000 meter mark, Groom had opened up a one-deck lead on Holland, but by 500 meters to go the lead had dropped to six inches and by the 250 meter mark Holland owned a six-inch lead and was sprinting early. Groom captured victory in 7:09.65, while Holland stopped just before the line in exhaustion. Defeated, the HarvardUniversity graduate drifted across the finish line 10.36 seconds behind Groom. After dropping Friday's first final by .25 seconds to Holland, Groom had rebounded Saturday to edge Holland by .24 seconds and force a third and decisive race between the two Olympians.

"I was relieved, and exhausted," said Groom, a 2000 Olympian as a lightweight sculler. "The body of this race was much closer than the other races. This has been a test of physical, technical and mental capacity. Now I need to gain more speed."

Sunday's win secures a berth for Groom and the United States in the men's single sculls competition at the Olympic Qualification Regatta, June 13-16 in Lucerne, Switzerland, the final phase of Olympic Games qualification for countries that have not yet qualified for the Olympic Games in certain boat classes. Groom will need to finish among the top three in Lucerne to make the Olympic Games.

"The tightness of this racing is just a glimpse of how difficult Lucerne will be to qualify," added Groom, who hopes to be the first rower in U.S. history to compete in consecutive Olympic Games as a lightweight and open weight rower.

Conal was Captain of the Georgetown lightweights in the 1993-94 and 1995-95 seasons. Another Georgetown alum, Mike Altman ('97), is currently stroking the men's lightweight four without, and Hilary Gehman, novice women's coach for the past three years, is rowing bow in the women's quad. All three of these athletes have additional hurdles to cross before they actually are on the Olympic team. Conal must qualify in the qualification regatta in Lucerne in mid June, and Mike and Hilary, while named to their respective crews now, must perform well in European regattas over the next month in order to hold onto their seats. The women's quad and men's lightweight four without have already qualified for the Games.